Robotics subteams 62B and 62X earned esteemed awards in skills and building at the VEX Chaminade Tournament at Chaminade High School on Oct. 19.

Team 62B, led by Abraham Gallardo ’20 and consisting of teammates Navid Ghodsi ’21 and William Farhat ’21, became ranked among the top 50 teams in the world after winning the skills competition, which consisted of a one-minute autonomous period followed by a one-minute driver controlled period.

The team credits its success to Ghodsi’s skilled programming, and hopes to continue competing after improving and adjusting their robot based on the judges’ feedback.

“I think what brought us success was a lot of the design before the competition and the programming, which Navid did for us,” Gallardo said, “We couldn’t have done it without his code – it brought us the victory. Building and driving can only get you so far, so I think Navid’s code really brought us to the next level.”

Team 62X, led by Justin Ansell ’20 and consisting of teammates Dean Reiter ’20, Erik Anderson ’20 and Katie Mumford ’20, won the Build Award for the construction of their robot and their documentation of the building process.

The robot’s ability to shoot balls and hit flags helped the team achieve a top 10 ranking during the seeding round. The team competed up until the quarter finals.

According to robotics teacher Andrew Theiss, the transition to newer robotics technology had initially caused problems for the teams, but has now been resolved due to a new shipment of parts. The entire team is now focused on improving their robotics and competing in future contests.

“This year has been most challenging due to a parts shortage caused by a transition into the next generation of robotics technology,” Theiss said in an email. “[However], with the majority of our delayed parts scheduled for delivery, the robotics team is on solid ground to succeed at future challenges.”